Meatloaf with Spicy Tomato Sauce

MEATLOAF

Serves 4

250g minced beef
10-12 streaky rashers, stretched with the back of a knife if they’re short
4 streaky rashers, finely chopped
1 fat garlic clove, crushed
1 medium onion, finely chopped
Couple of handfuls of breadcrumbs
1 egg, beaten
Couple tbsps tomato sauce
Tsp dried oregano
Splash of Worcestershire sauce
Salt and pepper

• First, fry off the chopped rashers and allow to cool on kitchen paper. In the same pan gently fry the onion and garlic until the onion is translucent but not brown, allow this to cool also.
• Put your mince into a bowl add a handful of the breadcrumbs, the egg, tomato sauce, oregano, Worcestershire and seasoning. To this add the cooled onion and bacon and combine well – I find it easiest to use my hands for this. If it is still too wet add more breadcrumbs. To test your seasoning is ok you can fry off a small pattie to taste now.
• In the meantime, line a greased 2lb loaf tin or dish with the remaining streaky rashers leaving some overhang on the edges of the dish. Spoon in the mince mixture, spread it out and press it down firmly and cover over with the overhanging rashers. Put the dish into a bain marie (basically a larger roasting dish with the water between a quarter and half the ways up the tin) and cover loosely with foil. Place into a preheated oven at 180C/fan 160C for approximately an hour and half.
• You want the mince to be fully cooked but juicy so every now and then empty out the fat that will accumulate in the dish. For the last half hour take the foil off and take the loaf out of the dish and place onto the foil on a separate tray so that the rashers colour and crisp up on the 3 sides. Let it sit for 10 or 15mins while before you slice it, it’s nicer and slices easier when cooler.
  
• I either serve this with cubed, crispy potatoes or pasta with a spicy tomato sauce. It is also nice the next day thinly sliced with a smear of the tomato sauce in a sandwich.

Spicy Tomato Sauce 

This sauce is simple. Just gently fry off some chopped onion, chopped red chilli, (as much or as little as you like only you know how much heat you can take!) and chopped garlic. Add a tin of tomatoes, couple tbsp tomato purée, good pinch of dried oregano, tbsp each of Worcestershire sauce and balsamic vinegar, couple tsps of sugar and plenty of seasoning. Let the sauce bubble away until nice and lusciously thick. Blend to a smooth and thick sauce and eat!

Some Recent dinner pics - recipes to follow

Chickpea & Vegetable Enchiladas

Meatloaf with Spicy Pasta

Salt & Chilli Prawns

Tesco had their frozen raw tiger prawns reduced to half price this week so I got a couple of bags. Then what to do with them? I was in a picky mood and couldn't face a big dinner. I decided to try and replicate the Salt & Chilli prawns that you get in the Chinese, turns out it isn't hard to!

I scored the back of the prawns and then coated them lightly in cornflour.  You then toss them in a combination of sea salt, chilli flakes and a pinch of Chinese Five-Spice powder making sure that each prawn is covered.  The traditional recipe calls for them to be deep fried but as I'm dieting I didn't do that. I poured a scant teaspoon of olive oil in a frying pan and fried the prawns for 2 mins on each side on a high heat. This means that you get a similar crispy coating to that you would get if you deep fried and your prawns will still be juicy and not over-cooked.

These are delicious on their own or dipped into sweet chilli sauce.

Spicy Pasta Bake

In the search for tasty and different lunches I decided to try a home-cooked pasta bake this week.  The previous night I cooked up some pasta spirals and mixed them with the following:

• Some passata
• Crushed garlic
• Chopped chorizo
• Finely sliced shallots
• Finely chopped mushrooms
• A big pinch of chilli flakes
• Finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
• Plenty of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

I put this mixture into a baking dish and topped with grated low-fat mozzarella and some grated parmesan. Let this cook in a medium oven until the cheesey topping is bubbling and golden brown.  

I ate some for my dinner and then put some into a lunch box for the next day.  Mr. Chops was slightly dubious that it would be nice unheated but it was a pleasant surprise.  Maybe it was because the chorizo is slightly oily but the bake hadn't lost any of its moisture and in fact, the heat had increased a little bit in terms of the chilli flakes.

Spicy Prawn Spaghetti

Sunday more often than not involves something spicy usually a curry. But this Sunday I went down the Italian route, this recipe has very few ingredients:

Spaghetti
Cooked prawns
Chilli Flakes
Crushed clove of garlic
Olive Oil
Sea salt & black pepper

Cook the spaghetti for the required length of time.  For the last couple of minutes heat a couple of teaspoons of olive oil in a frying pan add as big or as small a pinch of chilli flakes as you like. Stir it around for a minute or so then add the garlic and prawns keeping the heat moderate, you don't want burned garlic because it'll just give a bitter taste. Throw in the drained spaghetti with a little of the cooking water and add the salt and pepper. Mix everything together using two large spoons to combine the prawns with the pasta.  I ate this with a garlic pitta bread. Delish!

Thai Red Prawn Curry with Potatoes

This is the ultimate in quick dinners. I cheated and used a shop bought red curry paste, handy for when you don't want to spend the whole evening slaving over the hob. I used the following:

Couple of tablespoons of Thai red curry paste
A few asparagus spears, with the woody ends broken off
Boiled and peeled baby potatoes, which I halved
Cooked, peeled prawns
Couple of chopped shallots
Sliced red pepper
Sliced mushrooms
Handful of peas
Couple of teaspoons of lime juice
Grating of creamed coconut
Coriander herb

Gently fry off half the onion and all the mushrooms for a couple minutes until soft. Then add the paste and give it a good stir around, be careful not to have the heat too high as the paste will burn very quickly. Then add some water, you need enough to cover all the veg when its added. Grate in the coconut and add the lime juice then let it bubble gently for a couple of minutes. I also chop up some stalk of the coriander and add to the sauce. Adjust the heat and seasoning to your taste, I added a big pinch of chilli flakes. Let the sauce bubble for about 10 mins, adding the peas for the final 5, and then add the red of the ingredients to heat through.  Add a handful of chopped coriander right before you serve. I served this with Garlic, Onion and Coriander pitta bread link: GOC Bread.

Chicken Pitta Pockets

Yesterday was yet another spice day. Chicken breasts were defrosted and a marinade had to be created.  I sliced the chicken breasts into strips and mixed it into the following:

2tbsps olive oil
Half tsp each of chilli powder, paprika, sriracha sauce and dried parsley
A finely chopped shallot
Big pinch of ground coriander
Finely sliced fresh chilli


Give it all a good stir before you add the chicken to it.

We got these chillies in Aldi on Saturday. Don't they look funky? The big red one is allegedly a habanero but it tasted like a mix between a red bell pepper and a tomato. So then I cut the black one to taste it and it was extremely mild too. Now when I say 'to taste it', I mean that I cut some and gave it to Mr. Chops to taste, I aint that brave!! So seeds and all went into the marinade. If you're the kind of person who likes colours, you'll get a kick out of seeing a black chilli in the mix.

This is what the mix looked like with the raw chicken added.

I made Sriracha mayo sauce, label under Chilli Mayonaisse. I also stir-fried some slices of red & yellow peppers and red onion to stuff into the pockets.

Let's be honest with each other ok? I forgot to take pictures of the cooked meal cos I was so hungry and well my brain is totally controlled by my stomach at times. Ok not at times, at all times! It was a very tasty dinner and exceptionally healthy too and that is always a good thing.

Beef Chilli

When I'm in the mood for something spicy I find a beef chilli can go a long way. It's a quick enough dinner to cook as well. You'll need:

• Minced Beef
• Onion, finely chopped
• Garlic, finely chopped
• Chilli Powder
• Chilli Flakes
• Paprika
• Ground Cumin
• Ground Coriander
• Tinned Tomatoes
• Tomato purée
• Splash of Worcestershire sauce
• Splash of Balsamic vinegar
• Salt & pepper
• Mix of chopped peppers, red, yellow & green

I fry off the mince and strain out any excess fat that comes off it. Then add the rest of the ingredients including a tin of water. Bring to the boil and let it bubble for around 20mins.

At this stage, I'd taste it for heat and spices. If needs more of anything add it in, its probably wise to be cautious with spicing at the beginning.  You can add but you can't take away. The longer this cooks the better it gets and is even nicer on the second day, so give it at least an hour. I don't add the peppers until near the end of the cooking time, I like them to have a bit of bite and texture to them.

I ate it on a flat bread with some crunchy salad and grated cheese. Very moreish indeed and pretty healthy too, once you don't add extra oil.

TIS BEEN BAD FOOD WEEK

Didn't do too much cooking this week. Other than a Thai-noodle soup with prawns from Nigel Slater's new programme on BBC2. Mr. Chops isn't a fan of Thai food while I adore it. I love the heat of it and that little touch of sweetness in the background. You can find his recipe on the BBC food website bbc.co.uk/food, there's a link to his show.

I've become obsessed with prawns recently. Tesco were doing an offer on frozen raw king prawns so I stocked up on a good few bags. Of course, I never remember to take them out to defrost overnight so my little tip is to put them in tightly shut plastic bag and let sit in very cold water for an hour or so. If you think of it, change the cold water a couple of times but they won't be sitting in it for that long so its not entirely necessary. Turn the bag around every now and then and eventually you'll have perfectly safe-to-use defrosted prawns. The Tesco prawns are pretty tasty too, nice and meaty.

Another fall-back cupboard dinner is pasta with olive oil, garlic and chilli. If you've a fresh chilli near the end of its life hanging around, you can use it, otherwise I used dried chilli flakes. All you need to do is cook your choice of pasta, then while its draining, use the same pot to heat up a good splash of olive oil with a very finely chopped garlic clove and a sprinkling of chilli flakes - more or less depending on how much heat you like. Just make sure the garlic doesn't burn. Add the cooked pasta to the oil mix and give it a good stir. Check for seasoning, but definitely add some fresh ground black pepper. For a final flourish add some grated parmesan, then serve. Literally from pan to plate in 15mins max! Mr. Chops likes it and he's usually not one for plain pasta, he likes a little texture added. If you have it, you could add some roughly chopped chorizo to the pan with the garlic.